Cooking Oil to Fuel Western Water Vehicles

Water may be its core business, but now Western Water has turned its attention to a different liquid – biodiesel fuel. The water authority has installed a new 13,000 litre biodiesel tank at the Sunbury depot, to help reduce its carbon emissions.

"Using biodiesel for all our fleet vehicles will reduce carbon emissions by more than 140 tonnes a year,” Western Water’s Managing Director, John Wilkinson, says. “The biodiesel is produced from local waste products such as used cooking oil and tallow, which would otherwise go to landfill,” he says. “This means we are not only reducing carbon emissions from our fleet, we are also putting a waste resource to good use.”

The $25,000 tank is the largest of three now installed by Western Water, with tanks already in place at depots in Gisborne and Melton. The move is part of Western Water’s Climate Change Strategy, which sets a goal of zero net carbon emissions by 2017-18.

“We have already reduced our emissions by almost 30 per cent since 2004-05, and are now aiming to hit 50 per cent by the middle of next year,” Mr Wilkinson says. “Other measures have included retro-fitting energy efficient technology at offices, depots and recycled water plants, and converting to green power,” he says.

“At the Melton Recycled Water Plant, we are capturing biogas produced in the water recycling process to generate 100 per cent renewable electricity.”

BTW, pop over here to read a warning to Sunbury and Macedon Ranges residents on the need for more water saving.